Making the best of internship

Editor, RE: “How to make the most of your internship” (The New Times, May 25). This article on internships comes at an appropriate time. It was way back during the Transform Africa 2013 when I had the pleasure of meeting a group of energetic students from University of Rwanda. A mega event like this brings you in close quarters with a broad cross-section of personalities. Among the many management students I met during the Transform Africa forum, there was one particularly smart and enthusiastic young lady, Ms. Emma Umutoniwabo. Rwandan youth will do well to take a leaf from Umutoniwabo’s approach to internship. Right from the time I first met Umutoniwabo, she displayed a very positive attitude and set her goals on wanting to do an internship in Mumbai. All the points, so well explained in the article, were actually put into practice by Umutoniwabo, first to secure an internship here in Mumbai and then—once selected by the management of a leading award-winning Indian hospital—she has been able to make her mark through sheer tenacity and hard work. It is not that all was smooth sailing for this young lady. Challenges did indeed come her way, but the dynamic management graduate from University of Rwanda weathered all storms and emerged victorious. Umutoniwabo has won the hearts of the entire management where she is undergoing her internship. They have now offered her an advanced programme for another year, thus making this young lady well equipped to enter Rwanda’s health sector next year. Allow me to share with your readers, particularly the youth, the case of a Genocide survivor who, despite all odds, pulled though great hardships in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Rwanda Calling 2014 opened up new avenues for the young Charlotte Twahirwa. Her sad story was reported first by The New Times. Today Ms. Twahirwa is in charge of the stores of an established Indian technology company. It is our endeavor to support and assist as many as we possibly can through our Rwanda Calling initiative, coupled with various other opportunities, as and when they do arise. Clarence Fernandes

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Making the best of internship